Tennis coach builds team

Call her the Doubles Diva. There is no other way to describe her. Greeley West girls tennis coach Kathy Elliott is the doubles guru of northern Colorado, perhaps the whole state.

When you talk doubles tennis, all eyes are on the 49-year-old Elliott, who

has coached the Spartans since 1992. Elliott is the woman who can put together a successful high school doubles tennis team.

Looking for results? Elliott’s doubles teams have produced them, especially at the Class 4A Girls Tennis State Tournament at Pueblo City Park the past two years.

Elliott and Spartans assistant tennis coach, Jane Burke, have put their minds together and produced two state champions (No. 2 doubles team Courtney LaForest and Christie Hodson in 2003; No. 4 doubles duo Nicole Ford and Jennah Kitchell in 2004) in the past two years and two more champions (No. 1 Kelli Baumann and Courtney Runnells in 1992; No. 2 Michelle Manichanh and Michelle Jarchow in 1995) in the 1990s.

“We were really aggressive at the net,” said Ford, who will be a sophomore in the fall.

Recommended Stories For You

Attacking the net is the secret to the Spartans’ success.

All four doubles spots placed in the top three at state for the Spartans in 2003 and three of the four doubles spots finished in the top three at state this past spring. When you add that up, seven of a possible eight doubles spots have finished in the top three at the 4A state tournament the past two years. Elliott’s had four doubles spots play for a state title before losing in the finals during her tenure at Greeley West.

“We really have been very successful with our doubles, and we’re not that good of tennis players. It’s because of us making them go to the net and teaching our kids to block the ball and put pressure on your opponents to hit a better shot,” Elliott said.

While most of their opponents would disagree with Elliott’s assesment of her girls tennis talent, what she really means is that she coaches more athletes than pure tennis players who play the summer circuit and are taught by private coaches.

“Jane and I are very aggressive going through the ranks trying to find good athletes. They’re great athletes, but their first love is not tennis,” Elliott said. “Our No. 1 goal is that if you’re a pretty good athlete, I’ll make a doubles player out of you.”

Burke, 37, said Elliott taught her everything she knows about doubles.

“It is amazing how her philosophy all makes sense and just works for kids who don’t play a lot of tennis,” said Burke, who has coached tennis at Greeley West since 1991 and who also teaches mathematics at Greeley West.

Elliott gives all the credit for her expertise in doubles to her father, Carter Elliott, who taught every one of his 11 children how to play tennis in Grand Junction. Carter taught them so well that Kathy and her younger sister, Sharon, won back-to-back state titles at No. 1 doubles for Grand Junction High School in 1972-73, the first two years the school had girls sports.

“We pulled each other’s hair out. We swore at each other,” Elliott recalled. “We threw tennis balls at each other. We fought like two sisters should never fight, but we managed two state titles with our mom and dad having to lecture us on how we should treat each other better.”

Kathy has another younger sister, Carol, who is the head girls tennis coach at Grand Junction.

“I learned it from my dad. I’ve got to give him credit. My dad taught me to go to the net and make the people who like to hit ground strokes try to hit a ball by you,” said Elliott, who teaches physical education at Greeley West. “It’s tough as nails to do that.”

Elliott’s way of teaching doubles is extremely aggressive.

“There are not a lot of coaches out there who are going to make their kids go to the net,” said Elliott, who also teaches tennis at Work Out West from September through February. “If you’re really a tennis player, you have aspirations of playing singles. All kids who do have a background in tennis are singles players.”

Elliott said it’s tough to make a singles player go to the net.

“You don’t go to a singles player and say, ‘Hey, I’m changing your game. You’re going to the net.’ Coaches will let their kids play one up and one back, and they have a girl back there hitting ground strokes just as hard as she can and we’re just sitting back there blocking it back for a winner.”

Pairing the two players is also an important part of a successful doubles team.

“It is astronomically important. It’s always a puzzle,” Burke said.

Elliott said she knows right away if a doubles team will click.

“You’ve got to go with your gut. If a combination is not going to work, I will make changes,” said Elliott, who plays on a 4.5 women’s doubles team in Longmont. “It’s very important to put the right people together. If you play doubles for Greeley West, you’ve got to have a lot of character. You’re going to win matches because you know how to fight, you don’t give up and you’re a good sport.”

Elliott and Burke, a 1985 Greeley West graduate, have built a tennis program, especially in doubles play, at Greeley West that is respected throughout the state.

“Last year is really when I felt we’ve come of age. The kids that come into our program are starting to know what’s expected of them,” Elliott said. “It’s very competitive to make the Greeley West team.”

For the third time in three years, the Windsor High School girls tennis team will have a new head coach. Jennifer Keating, who is from Thornton, is going to school at the University of Northern Colorado to become a school teacher. She will replace Sally DeVol as the girls’ coach next spring.

Keating, 22, was a volunteer assistant coach for DeVol this past spring for the Wizards. DeVol resigned as head coach because her family is moving to Michigan. DeVol was a volunteer assistant coach under Bobbe Bennett, who coached the Windsor girls in the program’s inaugural year in 2003.

T.M. Fasano is a sports writer for the Tribune. He can be reached at 352-0211, Ext. 287, or at fasano@greeleytrib.com.

Tennis tip from Kathy Elliott

GO TO THE NET

Doubles is a lot more fun than singles. One thing about playing doubles is you never let your racket go back behind you. Go to the net and keep your racket in front of you and block every ball. Never give it a full stroke.

Your feet are always moving forward, attacking the ball and moving toward the net. Put pressure on your opponents to hit a better shot. You’re not always going to win, but you’re going to give yourself a chance to win.

I play on my own women’s team. At the higher level, those people are all going to the net.

Kathy Elliott has been the head girls tennis coach at Greeley West High School since 1992. Elliott was a two-time No. 1 doubles state champion for Grand Junction High School.